Citation Nr: 21009434 Decision Date: 02/22/21 Archive Date: 02/22/21 DOCKET NO. 19-24 498 DATE: February 22, 2021 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran has credibly reported ringing in his ears, which has been described by a VA examiner as tinnitus, since his exposure to harmful noise in service. CONCLUSION OF LAW Resolving reasonable doubt in the Veteran’s favor, the criteria for service connection for tinnitus have been met. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 5107; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served on active duty from June 1961 to May 1963. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) from a November 2018 rating decision of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). In February 2021, the Veteran testified at a virtual Board hearing. During the hearing, the undersigned Veterans Law Judge (VLJ) found the Veteran’s appeal met the criteria for VA’s “one-touch” initiative. To provide a response to the Veteran’s appeal immediately after his hearing, a transcript of the hearing will be associated with the claims file at a later time. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus The Veteran contends he is entitled to service connection for tinnitus. For the following reasons, the Board finds service connection warranted. Service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by service. 38 U.S.C. § 1131; 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(a). Establishing service connection generally requires medical or, in certain circumstances, lay evidence of (1) a current disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a link between the claimed in-service disease or injury and the present disability. Service connection may also be granted for any disease diagnosed after discharge, when all the evidence, including that pertinent to service, establishes that the disability was incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). In addition, for veterans who have served 90 days or more of active service after December 31, 1946, there is a presumption of service connection for certain chronic diseases if the disability is manifest to a compensable degree within one year of discharge from service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1101, 1112, 1113; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309. For the showing of chronic disease in service there is required a combination of manifestations sufficient to identify the disease entity and sufficient observation to establish chronicity at the time, as distinguished from merely isolated findings or a diagnosis including the word “chronic.” Continuity of symptomatology after discharge is required where the condition noted during service is not, in fact, shown to be chronic or where the diagnosis of chronicity may be legitimately questioned. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b); see Walker v. Shinseki, 708 F.3d 1331 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (the theory of continuity of symptomatology can be used only in cases involving those conditions explicitly recognized as chronic as per 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(a)). The Veteran contends he has tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, which developed during service. The record is consistent with exposure to harmful noises in serviced; his testimony and the evidence of record demonstrates he served in the Navy aboard aircraft carriers, to include on the flight deck. As such, the Board accepts his contentions of harmful noise exposure in service. See 38 U.S.C. § 1154(a). (Continued on the next page)   The record further shows the Veteran has been diagnosed with tinnitus. The Board notes that at the Veteran’s November 2018 VA Compensation and Pension (C&P) examination, the examiner opined that the Veteran was diagnosed with tinnitus with onset sometime in or around 1978. Notwithstanding, the Veteran has since alleged, including in sworn testimony at his Board hearing, that he first experienced ringing in his ears towards the end of his period of active service. When liberally construing the Veteran’s statements concerning continuity of symptomatology since his discharge from service, the Board finds the evidence is in equipoise with regard to whether his diagnosed tinnitus originated in service. The Veteran’s reports of harmful noise exposure are consistent with the circumstances of his service, and VA examination findings confirm that the ringing in the ears observed by the Veteran was tinnitus. As the Veteran has asserted that the ringing started during service, his credible assertions of ringing in his ears during and after active service establish chronicity of the condition which was later diagnosed as tinnitus. While there is some negative evidence in the form of a negative opinion noted in the November 2018 C&P examination report, the Veteran is competent to establish all the elements of his service connection claim. As such, a nexus to service is shown. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.303(b), 3.309(a); see also Charles v. Principi, 16 Vet. App. 370, 374 (2002). Accordingly, by resolving all reasonable doubt in favor of the Veteran, service connection for tinnitus will be granted. LESLEY A. REIN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board C. Ryan, Associate Counsel The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.